The money Rep. John Mica has raised from his constituents wouldn’t even cover his tabs at the posh Capitol Hill restaurant Acqua Al 2 — and that could be symptomatic of a gone-Washington problem for the House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman as he tries to fend off fellow Floridian Sandy Adams in a Republican primary.

Mica had collected just $6,550 from a total of seven people in his district through the end of last year — less than 1 percent of the $700,149 he had raised for this election cycle. His charges at Acqua Al 2 — the Washington sister of the same restaurant in Florence, Italy — over the same time period: $9,232

A 20-year House veteran, Mica relies heavily on donations from Washington-based political action committees to fund his campaigns in Florida. That’s usually not a problem: For years, he’s won reelection without a hitch. But after the Florida Legislature redrew the state’s congressional districts, Mica decided to cast his lot in the same territory as Adams, a tea-party-backed freshman.

The intraparty primary has caused consternation in House Republican circles — where some leaders expected Mica to run on neighboring turf to avoid the fight — and the tension even spilled over into highway bill politics, making it even harder for the GOP to get a transportation bill off the floor.

POLITICO analyzed fundraising reports for Mica and Adams that cover the end of 2010 and all of 2011.

By comparison, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who is also locked in a primary fight, raised $31,550 from 60 donors in his southwest Michigan district in just the last three months of 2011.

In a telephone interview, Mica said he’s not alarmed by the statistics. He says he raises money in his district only during election years. And there’s some evidence to back him up: In the past, he’s done more fundraising at home closer to elections. A campaign adviser said that Mica has already raised nearly $70,000 from 294 donors in the district since the end of December. But the aide declined to make the names and addresses available to POLITICO to check the list, which is not yet publicly available.

Even if Mica’s assertion bears out in the fundraising report due in mid-April, he’s raising only a small portion of his money from the people who elect him.

And the story line of a transportation chairman who cashes in everywhere but home is a familiar one. It helped Republican Chip Cravaack of Minnesota score an upset over Democratic Chairman Jim Oberstar, a 36-year House veteran, in 2010.

Like Cravaack did against Oberstar, Adams frames the paltry home district contribution list as evidence that Mica has been in Washington too long.

“Sandy has always built her political support from those closest to home — her friends and neighbors,” said Adams spokeswoman Lisa Boothe. “It is unfortunate that after spending 20 years in Congress, Chairman Mica has raised less than 1 percent of his campaign funds from donors in his district. Instead, he has heavily relied on the same Washington, D.C., special-interest groups who place requests before the committee he chairs. It is this kind of pay-to-play, Washington establishment attitude that voters sent Sandy to Congress to change and one she will continue to fight against next Congress.”

By comparison, Adams raised $61,755 from individuals in her current district over the same period of time. That’s a little bit more than Mica collected across the entire state. Adams raised $203,374 from Florida residents, which is more than one-third of her $596,345 in receipts.

The new district — based just north of Orlando in Oviedo, Altamonte Springs and Deltona — takes in territories that each lawmaker currently represents. It looks a bit like a West-facing winged pig, with its snout near Apopka, its backside running parallel to I-95 near the Brevard County Game Reserve and the wing above the torso, reaching into Deltona.

As Adams shopped for a district amid the new lines, the 7th was an obvious choice: Her current district, the 24th, is splintered into five pieces, and the largest remaining chunk — 352,591 people — landed in the new 7th.

But for Mica, who felt forced to make a quick pick when Adams announced for the 7th while he was managing the highway bill, the calculation and the math aren’t the same. Of his nearly 800,000 current constituents, 503,647 were placed in the neighboring 6th District, and 290,900 ended up in the new 7th. He chose to run in the district with less of his current core.

Mica’s longtime Florida home is in the 7th, just east of Lake Maitland.

Now, there’s no incumbent running in the Republican-leaning 6th District, and there are two in the 7th. That ruffled feathers among House freshmen who support Adams. While it wasn’t as much of an issue among members of the Florida delegation, some first-term lawmakers privately said they would vote against Mica’s highway bill in retaliation for his decision to go head to head with Adams.

Whether they actually would have based their votes on the bad political blood between two lawmakers from another state remains an open question.

On the fundraising front, Mica has raised more money from Washington political action committees ($264,000) than from individuals and PACs in the state of Florida ($76,950) and more money from folks in Miami, Houston and Washington than from constituents. His expense reports show he spent tens of thousands of dollars on meals and catering at Acqua Al 2, The Prime Rib, the Capitol Hill Club and Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington and even visited the renowned St. Elmo Steak House in Indianapolis — price tag $387.61.